I got a little stuck, but without further ado – here is chapter 11! Written while listening to the awesome, inspiring song "Uprising" by Muse. Chorus may or may not make a cameo :)

Thank-you for the reviews! I appreciate even one so much! Even if one person enjoys my writing, I am happy.

This story was aimed to be Sebastian/Hawke, but I have decided that I will let the readers choose the ending, whether or not she will be with Anders or Sebastian. Once we get to the second to last chapter, I will take votes. We're getting close, so make sure to review so I feel motivated to finish! :D

Disclaimer: Sad, sad day. I, Anjeru, do not own anything of the DA universe. D:

Anders and Sebastian would be in separate groups; there was no negotiation in that. He may have forgiven Hawke, but there was no way – unless it was absolutely necessary – he would forgive the mage; he had been the one to destroy the chantry, kill Elthina, and then defended his actions as if it had been the right things to do. There was no way. Sebastian had pulled Varric to the side and explained this in great detail, so the dwarf had returned to the group and declared to 'better their chances', they would be splitting into two groups. Varric picked the groups and they planned a coordinated, but stealthy, assault on the Gallows. Sebastian and Varric would be going to the Keep to speak with Knight-Commander Cullen to see if there was any way they could bargain for Hawke's release; in the meantime, Anders, Fenris, and Isabella would be sneaking into the Gallows to rescue her – if it could be done. Even if they managed to get her out, there was no telling what the collar would mean for Hawke. If they could not release her from it, she would forever be without her magic. The prince half-heartedly thought, for a moment, that would be the better outcome, that Hawke could, for the first time in her life, live as a normal woman.

"So! Choir Boy, you think this is gonna work?" Varric asked aloud as they were walking through the abandoned market courtyard of High Town. He was spinning a bolt around in his fingers as he had the day he'd first met Hawke.

"It has to," Sebastian said firmly as they progressed around the corner and stopped to look at the staircase that would lead to the Keep. "Hawke is strong but I fear she does not stand a chance without her magic."

"Hopefully Blondie and the other will find her."

Sebastian scowled. "Don't worry, Fenris and Isabella wil find her."

Varric turned to look at the prince, the bolt now having frozen in-between his index and middle fingers. "I see you purposely avoided conversation about Blondie. Still bitter?" the dwarf asked.

"Bitter? Bitter? Bitter?" The prince had to keep himself reigned in so he wouldn't take his anger out on his friend. And Varric was his friend. "I am not bitter. Blondie," he spat out the nickname, "is a murderer. Do you think if he had not blown up the Chantry and killed Elthina, Hawke would be in The Gallows right now?"

"You never know. That's the tricky thing about fate – you never know what could happen. If Blondie hadn't destroyed the Chantry, Meredith may have killed all the mages, including Hawke, as she had intended to do from the very beginning."

"Blowing up the Chantry is what drove Meredith to that final resolution."

"It was only a matter of time, Choir Boy. Only a matter of time." Varric shook his head and started up the staircase, pausing at the top to turn back. "You coming?"

Sebastian sighed and started up the staircase after him; as much as he hated to admit it, Varric had a point.

We are wasting time here.

Anders inwardly sighed. Justice was inputting his opinion again, whether or not Anders wanted to hear it. Choosing to ignore it, the mage held a hand out to inform the two behind him to halt. They had just come into the courtyard outside of the Gallows. He ran his amber eyes roved the area intently; he was expecting to find anyone in the dead of night. Indeed the armor and weapon merchant had retired for the night, and no guards stood posted; why would they be? It's not as if there were mages left in the circle; Hawke had decimated it after he and Justice had decimated the Chantry.

It was as they deserved. They all need to pay. Justice will always prevail, no matter the obstacles. Justice reminded him with firm conviction. Anders ground his teeth in silent irritation. Justice's conviction had hurt Hawke time and time again, and last time, had nearly killed her. He was not about to let the spirit about to cause even more harm. As far as Anders was concerned, the spirit had had his last adventure in this world; he wasn't getting out again. We shall see.

Anders scowled.

"It's clear," he whispered back to Fenris and Isabella. "Isabella, you stealth yourself and make your way inside. Find Hawke, then return here; we will be squatting in wait behind Solivitus' supply carts." Vaguely he wondered why the Templars had kept the mage vendor, but he quickly set it aside for now. Isabella nodded and before Fenris or Anders could say a word, the rogue melted past them into the shadows and disappeared.

Isabella had managed to find the Gallows prison vastly unguarded; the new Templars seemed to be overly confident and cocky. Or just lazy, she mused as she passed housing quarters for the soldies whom all were sleeping and snoring like pigs. The building she found though, was much bigger than it had used to be, and contained what one would call torture rooms. Frowning, she hoped Hawke hadn't been here long enough to endure any of that, yet. Keeping to the shadows, she continued on her search for her friend and fled up the twisted staircase leading to the second floor. Once she reached the top, she froze and listened intently. She heard noise. She kept to the wall, her fingers tight on the daggers at her sides as she tried to move closer without alerting the cause of the noise to her presence. Cocking her head, she listened.

"You can do whatever you want to me, but I won't break. In fact, I will kill you with pleasure." Her eyes widened slightly – that was Hawke's voice! But who was she talked to?

There was a loud crack of sound and a girlish cry of pain, that was instantly stifled with a shuffle of bodily noises. "Just wait until I take you downstairs, Lady Hawke. You won't be so defiant then," a male voice taunted her with a cruel laugh. "The Knight-Commander is expecting retaliation from your precious prince; little does he know that when he steps foot inside the keep again, he will be killed."

"You wouldn't!" She heard Hawke yell. "You'll start a war!"

"Don't you think it's a little late for that? I do believe you and that abomination started this war." The man grunted with a laugh. There was another loud sound and then a thump as a body hit the floor. Isabella couldn't wait any longer. Stealth be damned! She gripped her daggers in a deathly tight grip and bolted down the hallway on impossibly fast feet, straight toward the direction of where the voices had come from. She noticed that only one door had multitudes of locks on it, all of which were unlocked save for one that was just simply latched; it could be undone by the occupant of the cell, but there would be no point in that if all the other locks were locked.

Crouching down beneath the cut out window against the cell door, she listened. There were no voices now, but she heard scuffling and whimpering, struggling. Very cautiously, she lifted herself up enough to glance over the edge of the barred window and cringed at the sight; Hawke was chained, obviously, to some kind of contraption holding her to the wall by a long chain, and pinned, struggling, beneath a very large man who wore obvious Templar armor. He was in the process of ripping at her robes, exposing Hawke's supple, lanky, pale thighs, groping at every inch of flesh that was revealed to him. His spare hand was working at something she couldn't see from this angle, but was certain that it was him working out his hard on to which he would then use on the struggling Hawke to get his jollies. Isabella slowly slid back down to crouch, very quietly pressing her index finger against the edge of the lock, opening it as slowly as she could manage to avoid alerting the man inside. It clicked, ever so softly, when it unlocked and she froze, waiting to see if the struggling pair inside had heard. When the struggling continued, the rogue assumed the hadn't heard. She took a deep breath and steeled herself because the next bundle of seconds were going to be crucial.

In a split second, she had the door open and was on the man's back before he could turn his head. He howled in rage and surprise, rearing up off of her mage friend, turning this way and that to try and get the rogue off of her. Gritting her teeth, Isabella held on tightly with one hand, desperately working the dagger up as she tried to stay on him. In the next second, the dagger was buried in the side of the man's neck. He screamed and gurgled, throwing her off and into the wall. Isabella grunted, but jumped to her feet and moved to Hawke's side as the man stumbled out of the room, clutching his throat, before he proceeded to fall forward on his face and ceased to move.

Isabella knelt beside Hawke. "Are you alright?"

"Isabella, oh Isabella, thank the maker!" Her friend started crying then and threw herself on the rogue, embracing her tightly. Isabella rubbed her back and held her for a long moment; Hawke looked to be worse for wear. She had bruises everywhere, a sorely lacerated ankle, split lip, ripped clothes, tangled hair, and she was filthy, with blood staining her skin and robes.

"Sh, sh, it's alright, love. We've got you now," Isabella soothed.

Hawke lifted her head and looked at the pirate with wide, tear-filled eyes. "We?" she asked cautiously.

Isabella nodded. "Yes, we. Anders and Fenris are outside. I was meant to find your cell, then go back, but when I saw and heard that pig attacking you, I couldn't just leave."

Hawke nodded and looked out the door, where they could see the booted feet of the dead man laying just ouside. Then she jolted and looked back. "Wait! Anders is with you?" Isabella nodded then too. "Oh thank the maker," Hawke sighed. "I am surprised to see you without Varic," she then commented.

"Oh he is, sort of. He went to the keep with Sebastian to barter for your release."

The little mage's eyes widened. "What! But Deccan said Cullen was going to have him killed if he returned! We have to get to him, he's in danger!" She then started to stand, wincing, and make her way to the door, coming to a stop when her 'leash' pulled tight. She scowled. "Can you do something about this?"

Isabella went to her and began the process of picking the chain apart from her collar, eyes looking up now and then at her upset face. "You still love him then, don't you Hawke?" she inquired gently.

"I…do." She sighed, adverting her eyes away almost quiltly. That caused the pirate to pause.

"What is it? What did you do? I've seen that look before, and it's not a happy one."

"Anders and I…"

"Oh, so that's it. You finally let the hot blonde in," Isabella said with a chuckle as she went back to picking the lock. "Why is that so bad?"

"Because I love Sebastian!" Hawke snapped out irritiably.

"But you must love Anders if you let him have his naughty way with you," she said with a chuckle. "You aren't the easy type or I would have had my way with you several times over the years." The lock clicked and Isabella let the chain loose, letting it fall to the ground with a hard sound. That made the mage freeze and stare at her with wide eyes, as if her friend's words had been a startling revelation.

"I…no…I don't know," Hawke finally moaned out and then she grabbed the collar on her neck in her hand and frowned tightly. "What about this, can you do anything with this?"

"Hm. This must be the infamous collar Sebasatian told us about," she mused as she took it in her hand. They both then let it go as it shocked them painfully. The both of them then shook their hands out to get the irritating stinging to stop. "Has that happened before?" Hawke shook her head and Isabella frowned. "I can't do anything about it now. Let's just get out of here. We need to get to the others."

When Hawke started limping out the doorway, Isabella sighed and shook her head. She came up behind her and swung her up into her arms as the mage gave a surprised cry. The pirate then resituated Hawke by swinging her onto the back and kept hold of her by her thighs. "Hold on tight," Isabella advised.

Sebastian and Varric huffed from behind the pillars they were hiding behind inside the throne room of the keep. As soon as they had approached Cullen, the man had smiled cruelly and waved forward a score of men who then proceeded to attack them. All along Cullen had been planning an ambush; it shamed Sebastian to think he hadn't seen this coming. Together, him and the dwarf had managed to take out a good number of them, but not without injury. Arrows continued to try and reign down on them from various directions, while Cullen continued to laugh from the throne.

"Give it up, Sebastian." He called out tauntingly.

"Never!" Sebastian yelled back as he pulled an arrow tight in the bow string, then peeked around the pillar long enough to let it loose, where it then flew from to find home in one of the last nine attacker's eye socket. The man didn't even scream, just splurted blood and fell to the ground as many had done before him. Varric nooded to him once he turned back to hide behind the pillar. The dwarf had notched a dozen arrows in Bianca and then turned as Sebastian had done, but instead aimed at the ceiling above the attackers. He pulled Bianca's trigger and as soon as the arrows took off, he returned to his perch. The arrows shot up, but then curved and rained down at the now scrambling men. Two fell dead and at least three more took injuries to their limbs or bodies.

"You won't ever win! The Templars will be around, we will always seek to destroy the mages and that little present I gave Hawke…" Cullen laughed and leaned back in his throne. "It won't come off for anyone except me." It wasn't the truth, but there was no way that the prince would know that. In fact, the only thing that could remove that collar was a being of the Fade.

Sebastian scowled. "Then I will force you to remove it!"

Together, the two of them managed to take out the rest of the Templars. Once the room was clear of threats, the injured dwarf and prince came out from behind the pillars and made their way toward Cullen. They stopped at the base of the stairs leading to the throne.

"It's just us now, Cullen. Don't make us force you to come with us," Sebastian warned.

"You can't force me to do anything." Cullen said calmly, crossing his arms ocer his chest. "If I refuse to come with you, and you kill me, well then, your precious Hawke will forever be bound to that collar." He grinned. "Want to know the best part?"

Sebastian growled and notched an arrow in his bow, barely restraining himself from loosing it into the man's head. "What did you do?"

"If the collar isn't removed in a week – she will die." Then he burst into laughter. "And guess what? I'm not helping you!" He started laughing harder.

Varric was even now aiming an armed Bianca at the crazed Knight-Commander. "It seems insanity comes with the job," the dwarf growled out.

"You will help us." Sebastian said firmly, angrily, very close to loosing his control.

"No, I won't." Then with that the Knight-Commander pulled the very same sword Meredith had used in her duel with The Champion from behind the throne. With his continued manic laughter, Cullen then used it to slit his own throat as Sebastian and Varric watched in horror.

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